*Due to a technical issue, there is no recorded worship service available this week.*
An Ironic Escape
Acts 16: 25-26 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”
Hard-won freedom is a term we use to mean freedom gained after a great effort. We can apply it to the end of a conflict, letting go of something that is holding us back, or an escape from some kind of imprisonment. Freedom is a value we uphold as important and necessary in this world and we strive to ensure everyone is free.
In the Bible, the book of Acts describes an interesting story of a slave girl, two disciples, a jailer, and an earthquake. In an unexpected twist, everyone we assume to be free is not, and everyone we assume to be enslaved, has been freed. We learn that freedom can be both physical and spiritual, and that God offers freedom through Jesus, the Risen Lord. As we continue to explore the surprising acts of God, we consider what freedom means to us.